Strong quake hits China's Xinjiang province

  • 09/08/2017
The magnitude 6.3 quake struck near the city of Yining.
The magnitude 6.3 quake struck near the city of Yining. Photo credit: Getty

A strong 6.3 magnitude earthquake has struck northwestern China, in Xinjiang province close to the Kazakhstan border, the US Geological Survey says.

It said the epicentre of the quake, which struck at 7:27am on Tuesday (10:30am Wednesday NZ time), was 137km northeast of the city of Yining, which has a population of more than 500,000.

It comes after earthquake measuring 6.5 in magnitude struck a remote part of the southwestern province of Sichuan, killing seven people and trapping 100 tourists.

Reuters